BIOGRAPHY
Alex Blandino was born November 6, 1992, in Palo Alto, California. He is a second baseman in the MLB.
He graduated from St. Francis High School in Mountain View, CA, where he was a 4-time varsity letterman. As a senior in 2011, he was named Cal-Hi Sports Player of the Year, San Jose Mercury News Baseball Player of the Year, and Palo Alto News Baseball Player of the Year. He played at Stanford University, wherein 2012 he was a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American, and as a junior in 2014 was second-team Baseball America All-American, All-Pac-12 Conference, a member of the Pac-12 All-Defensive Team, and a Golden Spikes Award finalist as the best collegiate player in the country. In 2014 he hit .310, reached base safely in each of his last 31 apps of the season, and hit more home runs than 3 Pac-12 teams.
Alex Blandino was selected by the Cincinnati Reds with the 29th overall pick of the 2014 MLB Draft and was signed by Rich Bordi. In March 2016, he played for Nicaragua in the World Baseball Classic qualifier in Mexicali, Mexico.
In 2014, in his first professional season, he was a Milb.com Organizational All-Star in 63 apps at rookie Billings. At Class A Dayton he combined to hit .283 with 8hr, 32rbi, and 7 steals.
In the year 2015, in 110 apps at Class A Daytona and Class AA Pensacola, he combined to hit .278 with 10hr, 53rbi, and 9 stolen bases. He was a mid-season Florida State League All-Star and Arizona Fall League Rising Star, finishing the season rated the 13th-best prospect in the FSL. He was also ranked fourth among all Reds farmhands in hitting and made 92 apps overall at SS and 12 apps at 2B.
On 2016, Blandino spent his first full season at Class AA with Pensacola. He made his first appearance of the year on April 15, entering the 2016 season rated the sixth-best prospect in the organization and attended his first Major League spring training camp.
By 2017, in 125 apps for Class AA Pensacola and Class AAA Louisville, he hit .265 with 36 doubles, 12 HR and 51 RBI, establishing career highs in on-base percentage (.382), doubles, HR, and walks (64) and was the organization's Minor League Player of the Month for June. He began the season at Pensacola and on June 22, he was promoted to Louisville, while with the Bats he reached base safely in 48 of his 57 starts and recorded a hit in 40 games. After he was promoted, he was ranked 4th in the International League in on-base percentage and on November 20, he was added to the 40-man roster.
